AT LEAST FOR TV, BCS STILL MAKES SENSE.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

The beauty of the Bowl Championship Series, according to ABC Sports programming chief Loren Matthews, is in the eye of the beholder. Or, more specifically, the rights holder.

Since the BCS started in 1998 as a remix of the Bowl Coalition from 1992, its intent was specifically to bring the top two consensus teams together in one quasi-championship college football bowl game. For the most part (2004 notwithstanding), there have been several successful results, Matthews rightfully points out. Just take this year's version for an example.

Without the BCS, there could have been four undefeated teams playing in four different bowl games over the next few days - USC in the Rose, Oklahoma in the Orange, Auburn in the Sugar and Utah in the Fiesta - and the post-season arguments over who's No. 1 would be even more heated.

``It's a better system than we had previously,'' Matthews asserted in a conference call with reporters this week. ``Having said that, the bottom line is a lot of people are watching games, particularly the championship games.

``Were all the problems anticipated when the BCS came about? Obviously not, and the TV matchups don't equate to the matchups the bowls may prefer. They want to put people in the seats, we're trying to get the highest rating. And the ratings have indeed been strong.''

With that in mind, USC's matchup with Oklahoma in Tuesday's Orange Bowl satisfies those who claim the BCS can't get it right, and it's an even bigger boon to ABC, which is sure to draw in the 15-to-19 ratings range in Neilsen language and easily fit into the top-10 rated programs of the week.

Still, ABC has decided this isn't a quagmire it wants to spin its wheels in for the short term. It not-so-reluctantly yielded to Fox in the recent BCS rights dealings with the NCAA starting in 2006, but wisely kept a hold on the real cash cow in the whole mess, the Rose Bowl.

The turning point was when Matthews and ABC lobbied for a revised system that would take the top two winners from the four BCS games and let them play a week later for a national title that would no doubt earn even bigger ratings and generate more money for NCAA members. But the university presidents who oversee the BCS declined.

That's when ABC decided that not only as a broadcaster but a media entity that needs to keep its credibility, it couldn't stay attached to a publicly ridiculed house of cards. That's what also led to the Associated Press demanding its poll be excluded as a BCS component of the formula, and what should eventually force ESPN and USA Today to drop their sponsorships of the coaches' poll.

``That's another blow to the credibility of the BCS,'' ABC's Brent Musburger said of the AP's decision.

The BCS and all its confusion will exist for at least five more years under the current contracts with the networks, thanks to Fox's willingness to pay $320 million to carry the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls from 2007-10 and the national title game from 2007-09. Had Fox just stayed out of the way and let this thing die a natural death, a playoff may have been on the horizon quicker.

``Few sports boast the passion and pageantry of college football, and the BCS is the Mt. Everest of college football,'' News Corp. president Peter Chernin said at the time of Fox's contract announcement last month.

If the BCS really is the Mt. Everest, then maybe Fox is willing to be under the avalanche of negative publicity it will generate through the end of this decade. ABC, meanwhile, will gladly take a hike.

--It's all related: With ABC's coverage of the Orange Bowl starting at 5 p.m. with Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson doing the call, ESPN's ``College GameDay'' provides the preview at 4 p.m. with Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit.

The crew will actually be on-site from Miami starting today and continuing through Wednesday, including a 90-minute ``GameDay'' edition at 6:30 p.m. Saturday from South Beach. Among the features planned is one on USC coach Pete Carroll and his work stopping gang violence in Los Angeles.

ESPNews has live Orange Bowl media day coverage (7 to 10 a.m. Sunday). Reporter Steve Cyphers, who returned to ESPN after a two-year sabbatical to return to high school teaching, is assigned to follow around USC.

KSPN-AM (710) also has the contractual freedom to air ESPN Radio's coverage of the Orange Bowl with Ron Franklin, Mike Gottfried and Erin Andrews (the trio that covered USC's season opener against Virginia Tech for ESPN's TV network). KSPN has added a pregame (starting at 1 p.m.) and a postgame show as well. USC flagship station 1540-AM The Ticket also has a pre- and post-game show around its game coverage.

Local live TV postgame Orange Bowl coverage comes from KABC Channel 7's Rob Fukuzaki after the network feed and from FSN West at 9 p.m. FSN West begins five nights of half-hour preview shows at 10:30 tonight with Lindsay Soto, Barry LeBrock, Petros Papadakis and John Jackson.

And, for what it's worth, ABC's Keith Jackson is scheduled to appear on Monday night's ``Jimmy Kimmel (Not So) Live'' (Channel 7, 12:05 a.m.), hopefully not to do a duet with Jimmy's cousin Sal.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--Since its coverage of the Lakers' game at San Antonio live at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday goes up against the Orange Bowl, KCAL Channel 9 will air a replay of that game at 1 a.m. But that's just the start of it. All Lakers games on the station will now have a late-night 1 a.m. replay, a decision made as it became apparent ratings were taking a hit because of KCAL ending its tape-delayed game coverage that made it more convenient for those coming home from work. A network spokesman said this early-morning delay is a better way to serve the audience, many of whom are shift workers who do a majority of their TV viewing after prime time. The practice isn't new, as FSN West will continue showing Lakers fourth-quarter replays soon after the game ends, as well as complete-game replays the next day.

--New bells and whistles: ESPN, which has been using the cool ``Pass Track'' graphic on Sunday night NFL games since late last month to chart the speed and arc of a football throw by a quarterback to a receiver, has also unveiled a ``Kick Track'' innovation to show exactly where a ball passes through the uprights on field goals. It was used this week on Tuesday's Insight Bowl and Thursday's Holiday Bowl during replays. And on its daily live coverage of the Mercedes Championships from Kapalua, Hawaii, on Jan. 6-9, the network will show off ``Golf Trak,'' which creates 3-D models of the courses, including trees, water and grandstands, to show animated views from anywhere on the course.

--``A Tee Time Like No Other'' (KCBS Channel 2, Saturday at 1 p.m.) is a documentary narrated by Jim Nantz about two Special Olympics golf champions, Kevin Erickson and Oliver Doherty, who paired up with PGA Tour star David Duval and his father, Champions Tour player Bob Duval, in a team best-ball tournament earlier this year. Erickson carried teammate David Duval down the stretch with three putts on the final three holes to give his team a 4-and-3 win over Doherty and Bob Duval. Erickson, from Green Bay, Wisc., had a portion of his brain removed when he was four months old because of a tumor (which affects his speech and motor skills) and then overcame sinus cancer three years ago. Doherty was born in Ireland with brain damage and overcame partial paralysis on the left side of his body. This is the first of a series of specials produced by the Special Olympics in hopes of changing attitudes, dispelling myths and educating the public. This special was produced and directed by Ken Murrah, who has a Downs syndrome child. ``I wanted to get involved because you recognize how valuable this organization is to society and how much a difference they make in people's lives,'' said Murrah, who has worked with NBC and ESPN on many sporting events. ``I will have my own Special Olympian someday.''

--Final mention of Chris Berman for 2004: ESPN's resident 800-pound gorilla has made it clear to us in the past that we ``just don't get it'' when it comes to writing anything about what he does on the air. Maybe so. But then someone like Phil Mushnick of the New York Post writes the other day: ``At what point does Chris Berman retire his played-out `Swami' act? Not only does he seem to be the only one left who cares whom the Swami likes in NFL games, he seems to be the only one left entertained by the Swami.'' Couldn't have missed the point better myself.

WHAT CHOKES

--Incredible-looking girls in string bikinis told they aren't pretty enough. No, it's not ``The Biggest Loser II.'' That's the hook for the latest ``unscripted series'' called ``Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search'' (Channel 4, Wednesday, 8 p.m.), a mid-season replacement for NBC synchronized to end with the SI Swimsuit issue launch next month. The 12 contestants live in Los Angeles and compete to appear in the SI swimsuit issue and win a $1 million modeling contract. Former SI swimsuit issue editor Jule Campbell is one of the three judges, and SI writer/assistant managing editor Roy S. Johnson is one of the show's executive producers. What in the name of Kathy Ireland has the once pillar of journalistic integrity resorted to here? How will all the moms who annually cancel their son's SI subscription every February react to this? And how soon do the 11 runners-up end up as contestants for the next season of ``The Apprentice''?

--What you won't find in today's TV listings: FSN West airs a one-hour replay of the Rock, Paper, Scissors World Championship, 7 p.m.

By Tom Hoffarth

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